An electrical device such as a switch or receptacle may be mounted to a structure, such as a house. Later, it may be desired to add a protective housing to protect or otherwise prevent access to the components of the switch or receptacle. Traditional protective housings require the complete removal of mounting screws prior to installation, which may further require unmounting the electrical device. Traditional protective housing installation may require co-installation of the protective device with the electrical device.
To address this problem, keyhole-type protective housings have been developed. Keyhole-type protective housings can be installed on already-mounted electrical devices due to their inclusion of at least one keyhole—a through hole with a large end to be placed over the head of an already-inserted mounting screw and a small end to be subsequently positioned under the screw head by laterally sliding the housing. However, keyhole-type protective housings have several disadvantages. First, if the head an already-inserted mounting screw is larger than the large end of the keyhole, the mounting screw would still need to be completely removed prior to installation.
Second, because a keyhole-type protective housing can move laterally along the keyhole, the user must take care to align the housing before tightening the mounting screws. The user often has to repeat this process until he is satisfied that the housing is level and plumb.
Third, keyhole-type products are out of compliance with National Electrical Code (NEC) and Underwriters' Laboratory (UL) standards because the keyholes comprise large diameter areas into which a child can insert their fingers or metallic objects, risking electrical shock. Further, water can seep into the large diameter areas if the housing lid is compromised, which is of concern because electrical devices with protective housings are often installed into areas exposed to rain or irrigation systems.
Fourth, because keyhole-type protective housings require the user to slide the faceplate in a plane parallel with the front of the electrical device, any sealing gaskets attached to the rear of keyhole-type protective housing can suffer significant abrasion from the surface texture of the surrounding wall (e.g., brick or stucco) or on sharp edges for the electrical mounting box during installation. And, if the gasket is torn or compromised by this abrasion, water can seep into the electrical device and create a shock hazard or short.
An additional issue is size- and electrical device-specific product matching. Electrical devices requiring protection may be of a variety of types, including ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) outlets, duplex outlets, 220V outlets, and toggle switches; may be sized as 1-gang, 2-gang, 3-gang, 4-gang or larger; and may include multiple outlet or switch types. Traditional and key-hole protective housings are specifically matched to a particular electrical device size and type configuration—and sometimes matched to a specific electrical device version, even including particular mounting screws. This can limit the end user's ability to efficiently acquire a suitable protective housing for a switch or receptacle when that electrical device does not come as a kit with a protective device.